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MOVING PAST YOUR FRAGMENATION! |
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August 18, 2010
Dear Friends:
I hope that many of you were able to join us this past weekend for our Firstfruits Gathering for the Hebraic month of Elul. This was a wonderful celebration of leaving the narrow place to meet the King in the field! Further below is our Day 23 Issachar Devotion. These have helped people so much.
On Friday night, Robert Heidler shared on how the Lord designed this month as a time when we could meet Him in our “field”. If we are willing to seek Him, He will show Himself strong in whatever circumstance we may be. If you were not able to join us on Friday night, we are offering a webcast replay through this Saturday night (August 21). This is a free webcast for everyone who is registered in Member Services. So if you have not already registered your contact information in Member Services, please take a minute to do so.
Breaking the Power of Fragmentation! Because of our need to hear this, many are requesting to see and study this again. One key is to leave behind our wounds and move into the season ahead in wholeness. On Saturday morning we focused on inner healing and healing spirit, soul, and body. I shared how God has designed a cycle of life for each of us. The enemy longs to traumatize our development so portions of our soul are fragmented and never develop fully. But God! We have set up an e-ticket that you can purchase for $15 to watch both Saturday morning sessions. Of course, we are also including these sessions in the weekend CD and DVD sets.
The Peter Wagner Historic 80th Birthday Bash and Extension of His Mantle
On Saturday afternoon, we shifted out towards our land along Interstate 35
and celebrated Peter Wagner’s 80th birthday. I loved it when Peter
walked in with his cowboy hat and cowboy boots! This was a great time with
great food and great music. We had so much fun that we will add a highlights
CD/DVD to our weekend set. We also debuted Peter’s autobiography, Wrestling
with Alligators, Prophets and Theologians. This is an amazing
account of Peter and Doris’ more than five decades in ministry. You can now
purchase this hardcover book on our webstore for the amazing price of $13!
Sunday Morning! Barbara Wentroble and Apostle John Kelly both shared
that this was one the best examples we have on record of modern apostolic
transference of authority!
Peter has determined he will “finish well” and has been transitioning various
ministries and functions to spiritual sons and daughters. On Sunday, he set
in John Kelly as his successor in the International Coalition of Apostles,
and me to receive the inheritance of Global Harvest Ministries. As I have
shared previously, we are developing a new apostolic, prophetic wineskin,
Global Spheres, to move into the future. In our second service, Peter shared
various stories from his and Doris’ life.
Many of you will want to purchase the complete CD or DVD set from the entire weekend. This includes Friday night, Saturday morning, the Birthday Bash highlights from Saturday afternoon, and both of our services on Sunday morning. Through tomorrow (Wednesday), this set is only $20 (regularly $30 for the CDs and $40 for the DVDs).
Creating a Passionate Movement: Fuel the Movement! (Saturday,
August 28)
There is a sound and intensity in the next generation that is unlike any
other. One of our goals at Glory of Zion is to see that generation equipped
and liberated to transform a society longing for something lasting to be passionate
about. On Saturday, August 28, we will have a special kickoff for
Fuel the Movement. This will begin with worship at 10 AM, and
meet throughout the day. Lunch and dinner will be provided. Speakers include
Karen Vaughn, Joseph Pierce, Jack Smith and me. Aaron Smith will be leading
worship. This will be an incredible day of “Defining the Movement,”
“Gathering a Generation,” and “Displaying the Heart of the Movement.”
Karen shares, “With a generation on the fence we are choosing to set a new standard! Through worship, fasting, and prayer we will turn the tide and restore OUR generation to the heart of God. If you're a High School student or young adult up through age 30 make sure you are with us August 28 at 10am to raise that standard together. FUEL the PASSION. FUEL the HUNGER. FUEL the MOVEMENT!”
Make plans to join us as we kick things off and see the next generation launched in a new way!
For those of you in the Denton area, please remind your youth about the BACK TO SCHOOL LOCK IN this Friday night (August 20) for our High Schoolers.
Day 23 Issachar Devotion: Mine! Mine! Mine! The Root of our Problems in Society!
Recently, our granddaughter, Chloe, spent a week with us. We watched only two things all week: Cars and Finding Nemo. I loved them both, even the 12th time over. Here is a picture of what she and I looked like:
In Finding Nemo, because of his disobedience and his dad’s fear and trauma from the past, Nemo finds himself in a dangerous mess. He now ends up out of the sea in an aquarium in a dentist’s office in Sydney, Australia. His dad and a friend pursue finding him. They do unite and attempt to make their journey back to their dwelling place. However, there are seagulls all along the way … and seagulls love fish! In the movie, every time the entire flock of seagulls sees a potential morsel, or dinner, or lunch, or breakfast, they shout….."Mine, mine, mine!" and contend for the prize.
In a carnal, material world, we are much the same. We compete for the prize instead of pressing for the prize! We contend and war with each other because we think we are entitled to have what we want. Penny Jackson shared the following with me about "Entitlement."
My situation with spending money is much the same. There is nothing inherently wrong with spending money until I cross a line and find myself in a bind. Yet at the time I am shopping, I feel completely justified in getting what I want because I sure didn’t get the things I felt I should have—life things. And so it becomes important for me to look at the matter and locate the deception in it; it’s a “mind-set” that smacks of the pit of hell.
So what gives someone a sense of entitlement? In the United States we are born with a sense of entitlement anyway, I think, which may be the open door to this thing. We have certain expectations because of where we live and how life should be for us who live here (or so we have been led to believe). And somewhere along the line I think we have gotten the idea that we are entitled to a loving husband or wife, obedient children, and a lovely home in a tree-shaded neighborhood.
I don’t know. Maybe it’s a holdover from old black-and-white TV shows. Think Father Knows Best or Leave It to Beaver. I grew up watching The Waltons, and when my parents weren’t Olivia and John Walton, I was disappointed. Weren’t parents supposed to be that way? Yet, how could anyone live up to such a romantic, unrealistic pattern for parenthood?
So now I sit here years later with age fifty in my rearview mirror, no husband in sight, and no children at all (obedient or otherwise). My parents weren’t the Waltons, I don’t have access to unlimited funds (although ours is the wealthiest country in the world), and something deep within me works behind the scenes to convince me that I ought to be able to do whatever I want to since I didn’t get those things that were owed me. I can eat what I want if I want to because I didn’t have the blissful childhood I wanted. I can spend money irresponsibly because I don’t have a husband or kids and was supposed to have had those things, and so I deserve whatever I want that is within my power to get. Somebody owes me! It’s crazy, really, but it’s down there. And hand-in-hand with it is unreality. The world isn’t perfect, even in the United States. You are probably saying, “Duh. How could anybody really think that?” But dig down deep. See if on some level there isn’t something in you that thinks it should be and that you should have had a certain kind of life—not because of anything you have done, but just because of your existence on the planet.
We are created to live a life of praise, and yet this sense of entitlement, besides causing us to live in a mind-set of expectation rather than expectancy (two vastly different things), leads to the very antithesis of gratitude—malcontentment and ingratitude. It causes a childish cry within us that says, “How come they got that and I didn’t? It’s not fair!”
The apostle, Paul, said that he had learned to be content in whatsoever situation, whether abased or abounding (Philippians 4:12). And we are to give thanks in all things. I think as Christians we really do want to do that and try to do that. But I also think the Lord in His infinite mercy is allowing us (or me, at least) to get down to a lie that makes it hard to feel really grateful sometimes, even with our best intentions. And I think He is letting us see the cause of a restlessness and discontent that drives us at times for reasons we don’t understand.
If we don’t look at entitlement squarely in the face and identify it, we can’t deal with it. Until we can fall out of agreement with entitlement and unreality and know that there is a plan for us that supersedes that one we felt we “deserved” or that life owed us, we will view our circumstances through a distorted filter, at least on some level. But as we look at this honestly as the lie that it is, I think we will find such a joy and gratitude rising up within us spontaneously that our lives will never be the same because—you know what?—we serve a good God, and He wants to give us the desires of our hearts. He came to give us life, and life more abundantly—more than we can hope for or even imagine.
You know, there was another definition for entitle in my dictionary: “to qualify; to give a claim by the possession of suitable qualifications.” Through the blood of Jesus and our acceptance of Him as our personal Lord and Savior, we are qualified and can lay claim to the wonderful promises He has given us, and these promises are “Yes and amen.” To that we are entitled. Praise God!
Join us for a Week of Evening Prayer on the Land!
All this week we are hosting “Evening Prayer on the Land.” Our
focus will be getting the Ark positioned for the future! Through
Saturday night, everyone is welcome to join us at 6:00 PM for
a time of prayer. We will meet on our
land near the pond in the shade of the trees. Begin each new day at sunset!
New opportunities have come into our path! We will spend this week praying
for where we go into the future. Pray with us! Please contact Anne Tate
at annet[at]gloryofzion.org with any revelation you receive.
Make Plans to Join Us for HEAD OF THE YEAR 5771 on September 9-12!
We are entering a season of Unbridled Power and the Lord is giving
us tremendous insight on what lies ahead for the Hebraic Year 5771. How we
respond to our boundaries and our disciplines is how we will overcome in the
season ahead. Don’t miss joining us on September 9-12
for Head of the Year 5771: A Season of New Authority—Power in Submission
to the King. Joining me will be Dutch Sheets, Paul
Keith Davis, Venner Alston, Pat Francis, Kenny Blacksmith (a key First
Nations prophet and apostle from Canada), Rabbi Ted Simon, Mary Glazier,
Robert Heidler and others.
You can look for more details next week, but I wanted to encourage you to register today by going to www.gloryofzion.org or by calling 1-888-965-1099 or 1-940-382-7231. The cost is $30/person or $50/married couple. Groups of 10 or more (registering at the same time) can register for $20 per person by calling our office. We will begin on Thursday night and end around noon on Sunday. If you cannot be here, join us by webcast for $25 per person. There are special webcast rates for groups watching at the same location.
Blessings,
Chuck D. Pierce
Wonderful New Resources
Leaving
the Narrow Place to See the King in the Field!
This was a wonderful Firstfruits weekend! You will want this set help you
understand how the King meets us in the field. Then the teaching on Saturday
morning regarding breaking the power of fragmentation was so unique. The
enemy longs to traumatize our development so portions of our soul are fragmented
and never develop fully. We have also included highlights from the Birthday
Bash on Saturday afternoon, along with both Sunday morning services where
we honored Dr. Peter Wagner and the transition he is making.
SPECIAL THROUGH TODAY: $20 for CD or DVD set
Regularly $30 for the CD set; $40 for the DVD set
Just Released! Worship As It Is In Heaven by John Dickson and Chuck D. Pierce
God is enthroned on the praises of His people, and from that throne, He governs
the heavens and the earth. When we worship as they do in heaven, we unlock
God's purposes for our lives and for the earth. As our worship goes up, God's
will comes down. In Worship As It Is In Heaven, John A. Dickson and
Chuck D. Pierce, coauthors of The Worship Warrior, are calling the
Body of Christ to rediscover heaven's pattern of worship, instituted in David's
tabernacle and renewed through Jesus' apostles in the earliest days of the
Church. Through our worship, the forces of darkness are pushed back and righteousness
prevails! Worship As It Is In Heaven is a call to enter a fullness
of worship the world has rarely seen--worship that is the conduit of God's
government of peace, justice and holiness on the earth.
Special: $10 (regularly $13) … valid through September 20, 2010
Now Available! Wrestling with Alligators, Prophets and Theologians by C. Peter Wagner
For more than five decades, Dr. Wagner has led the Church from one great move
of God to the next, riding the wave of the Spirit through changes he never
imagined possible when he first answered God’s call to ministry. In
Wrestling with Alligators, Prophets and Theologians, Dr. Wagner invites you
to experience these spiritual paradigm shifts as they happened, just as he
did, and shares how these surprising moves of the Spirit impacted his own
ongoing transformation. You’ll witness the seismic changes in the Church’s
recent history through the eyes of one leader who has seen it all unfold!
Special: $13 (regularly $16) … valid through September 20, 2010
These and many other resources are available by going to www.gloryofzion.org or by calling (888) 965-1099 or (940) 382-7231.